Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

In for a minute... sandwich... drink.... "pills" for back..... going out to see about doing some grommets on the vinyl.... rolled out the piece, decided on the smaller grommets, and have to take a tape measure to get them pretty straight along the top since there is only a 2x2 to hang them on with the self anchoring screws... sot much room to "eye" them on the vinyl so going to mark them...

Out early while the ground was hard and frozen... before it got slick with the thawing....went and did the dog and then went to the farm to get the bale truck...
Went and fed hay to big pasture again... and the sun is melting all the snow so they can do some scrounging... the other 2 groups that got 1 bale each can go another day or 2... the one I could see from the road as I drove by, still had some and they were all laying up on the hill .... when I came out of the big pasture, they were back down eating on it... There aren't quite as many in the other field up the top of the driveway and over the back hill.... so assuming they are fine too for the next day or so...
Then fed 1 roll to the calving field.... got a new baby this morning..just born when I got there, cow had it cleaned off and it was up...no hay left, so went back in with the roll, and saw it nursing before I came out of there.... wish they would finish up... got 5 more...maybe 6... have to look at the list...
Snyder's across the road with "the 12" , has plenty of hay left... not their favorite bale but TS... eat it.... gave them grain... Grants behind me they are back to grazing some of the stockpiled grass..

Have to go back to DS and feed the chickens and do waterers again since we will be gone all day tomorrow with the dr appts...

Okay, done eating... heading out again...

 

[fuzzi]

So was I !!! Small world. Graphics Host.

I was a community leader in The Grandstand (sports). Did message board monitoring, chat hosting, even library uploads. I enjoyed it. That's where my "fuzzi" moniker came from originally.

 

[farmerjan]

Love the hijacking.... Seriously, I do....

It was a mostly sunny day... Got up and going early... temps down to 27 overnight so ground froze/got hard again.
Went to DS and gave dog his shot and all... Went to the barn, checked the cows and one had just had a calf...

Oh, I think I already posted some of this when eating a sandwich...

I went out and measured and "laid out" a line and marked every 6 inches along the sides, (which will actually be the top and bottom as I will lay them longways... I got the 54" wide by 108" long.. the clearance piece.... to put in the grommets. Boy, that is a pretty neat thing... This vinyl is thin enough that I didn't have to pre-punch the holes... the grommet tool I got punched through it and applied the grommet.. I got the 2 "long sides" marked and grommets on... had to quit so I could fill my feeders, and then go back to do the chickens and all at DS's.. This was on the 20 gauge thickness piece... I don't know if the 30 gauge will have to be pre-punched holes as it is thicker and stiffer...Pre-punching will take alot more time to do... but the "over the top " pieces really do need to be the 30 gauge at least...and I got to thinking a little bit ago... I could use ZIP TIES on these side pieces... it will thread right through the mesh around the 2x2's I would think... they aren't so terribly tight to the top pieces that I should be able to slide them through with a little wiggling... then just use the anchor screws for putting on the "tops" more permanent... Might try it and see how it goes...worst is I can't use the zip ties and have to use the anchor screws...right?
For now, it is rolled back up and in the shed here... need to put grommets on the 2 short sides

I went back to DS's, did the chickens' feed and waterers. I don't think it is going to freeze up as much... looking at only 28-30 maybe overnight... Then gave the dog his shot and fed them... got back here and got things buttoned up for the night...

The forecast is for some snow again... 1-4 inches, all according to who you listen to... DS just texted me, they just got back... and he said he will see what it is like in the morning and decide to go or not to go... his dr appts. , so his call.... Unless it is really bad, I'm fine with going... drive a little slower.... but they may cancel appts down there also... except that we will be too far away to get the cancellation notice, in time, because we will have already left to go down......
Nearly all this snow is gone... except some shaded spots like normal... it was a very nice day out so it melted pretty good... Still 35 out there, so continued slow melting.... PERFECT for the ground....

So, I am going in to finish packing the samples....didn't push to get them done since I wasn't going to make a special trip 15 miles to UPS when we are going to go right by there tomorrow... if we don't go, then I will take them down sometime before 5 p.m..... go to bed and set the alarm for about 4:45 a.m. and see what the weather is doing... wait for DS to call and go from there...

 

[farmerjan]

Monday morning... Got up at 4:30... to see what the weather was doing... It wasn't doing anything at that time... I finished packing the samples and got them ready to go out in the explorer...
Texted DS and said it was 34 and not doing anything. He texted me back about 5:20 or so... said it was flurrying down there at her house, and he said it was not worth dealing with the bad roads... they were calling for more down south of here...????? HUH?????
All the schools here are closed... several were delayed 2 hours and they have now cancelled. It started to snow right after I got a text from him to cancel.....by about 6 here. It is really snowing now...

I think he just did not want to go this morning... The weather forecast was raining down there where we had to go, but kept saying it was going to change over to snow and could get 2-5 inches...Looked on the radar and it is snowing down there also... guess he made the right call...

So, I had loaded the sample boxes to go to UPS... in the explorer .... sometime I will get them to the UPS place.

Temp has dropped to 31, dropping several degrees. Saying it is going to get down in the mid 20's by this evening and maybe 20 overnight????
Hearing lots of accidents on the highway now.... so probably a good idea that we didn't go...

Well. I was about caught up, just wanting to get the vinyl up. Not going to do that today... I really want to try it with the zip ties along the top.... this first piece is my experimenting piece... Really need to get the 2x6 's under the bottom though....

So, it is a "work inside day" today.... lots of stuff to work on... house is a disaster.... I hate housework...

Well, breakfast time... I never went back to bed, although I didn't get much sleep last night and should have... Now I will eat, and then put away dishes that I washed last night and are dry in the dish drainer....
Then maybe start going through a bunch of clothes that need sorting/folding/ and some into a box for a future yard sale or donation... several pairs of pants to try on....got a slew of paper to shred for the "new to me" chicken house we are supposed to go get...

 

[farmerjan]

DS texted me and said he got a text from the Dr office at 7 a.m.. Since that appt was at 8, we would have been halfway there at that time... Said the office was closed and all appts cancelled... good thing we didn't go... DS made the right call. He also called and cancelled the 1 pm appt ...he tries to get appts in the same direction on the same day... normally we would have come back by the stockyard and eaten lunch and watched some cattle sell too...
Never did eat any breakfast, got busy, so my stomach is rumbling... Still snowing... just heard the a weather report... 4-7 inches now... Going in to make something....

@Mini Horses , you getting any of this???? Anyone else in Va or NC or anywhere else getting some snow... on the east coast.... I expect that @Weldman and @Poka_Doodle would be getting some winter weather....

Temps have dropped to 29

 

[drstratton]

DS texted me and said he got a text from the Dr office at 7 a.m.. Since that appt was at 8, we would have been halfway there at that time... Said the office was closed and all appts cancelled... good thing we didn't go... DS made the right call. He also called and cancelled the 1 pm appt ...he tries to get appts in the same direction on the same day... normally we would have come back by the stockyard and eaten lunch and watched some cattle sell too...
Never did eat any breakfast, got busy, so my stomach is rumbling... Still snowing... just heard the a weather report... 4-7 inches now... Going in to make something....

@Mini Horses , you getting any of this???? Anyone else in Va or NC or anywhere else getting some snow... on the east coast.... I expect that @Weldman and @Poka_Doodle would be getting some winter weather....

Temps have dropped to 29

I'm glad you're safe and snug at home, sounds like a good place to be today.

I don't care for housework either especially in the morning. I can get more done inside in the afternoon in two hours, than I can all morning. Outside is a different story.

 

[Mini Horses]

No snow here...coastal VA. Well, not now anyway . Haven't looked at weather. It's cold out, I know that. Very disoriented today ... Why? It's cold out. I'm inside.

Added: having my coffee at 1:20 in afternoon -- I said disoriented!! Yeah, I'm all screwed up today.

 

[fuzzi]

As I type we're getting the rain to snow changeover, and it's beyond raw outside. It's damp, cold, and a brisk wind is blowing. Caleb will need to be content with yard walks, I am not going to take a chance of falling by walking on freezing wet pavement.

ETA: I got out my down jacket.

 

[Poka_Doodle]

Sounds like you made the right decision.

I've gotten a dusting today, but we had maybe an inch overnight, and kinda just off and on constant snow for the last week, and the forecast looks to be about the same going forward.

 

[farmerjan]

Temps have dropped slowly all afternoon... As of 5:30 it is down to 22....It was still snowing, very light fine stuff, but not ice. Was nearly stopped when I came in at dark.

We have about 6-8 inches out there.. I measured in a couple spots...more 7-8 inches than 6 inches...

DS had texted that the mailbox door was open and the mail getting snowed on, when he went by with some hay.... So, I went out and the hinge on one side is apart... I sorta shoved it back together and got the door shut... I will need to probably put a new nut and bolt on it... looks like a little metal like pin/thing through it... Brought the mail in and shut it as tight as I could...

I went over to the chickens, snow had blown in quite a bit of the pen. So, I went and got a big piece of plastic I had and got it up around part of one side, around the corner and across the back to the other stuff I have had up. The snow came from the other direction than what it normally does, so got more in there than I thought would. So the temp plastic is up to block more of it, then I got a bag of grass/leaves that I had bagged last year, and put it around where they roost and on the ground there so not so cold and wet for their feet to walk around there. Got another egg from the langshan... cannot believe she is laying this much.
So they are better off for the night... I can't wait to get the actual vinyl up all along the one side and around the corner... and I am going to use another piece as soon as it gets here; and get the rest closed in for the winter... I still want to get them in the other coop as soon as we get it... but for now, this will really help them. And I want to cover the new run partially, too, to give them plenty of space to get out and exercise..

Needless to say, I did not go anywhere.. so samples are still in the explorer... guess they will go out tomorrow...should have made a special trip yesterday so they would have gone out today.... but figured today would be fine... well, not like they are going to go sour with this cold... even with the preservative pill in them...
I am scheduled to test tomorrow... will drop them off on the way in the afternoon... I will talk to the farmer in the morning to make sure it will still suit them for me to come... This kind of weather you never know what is happening... broke down..... what ever.

DS is feeding hay... has been several places to feed today... he fed a couple places last evening...He doesn't get going very early some days, so is feeding in the dark.... I sure hope there were no new calves today.... he didn't say. All the more reason to push to NOT be calving this late.... pull the bulls, so they cannot get bred late, and either sell the open cows or carry them over to the next calving group.

Going through old mail, papers etc and shredding... takes time... took the buttons off a couple of shirts going in the rag bag, folding some clothes as I go along too... Doesn't look like I am making much progress.
Internet keeps going out... usually does when we have some "weather".... so I leave this on the computer and come back to it .

I had filled the bird feeder and am so glad.. they have been making full use of it... Had some seed that got a little moldy and so I dumped a bunch in a couple piles on the ground for them to pick through... See where they have been scratching through the snow to them so I tried to clean off the snow from them. Also dumped the rest of the bucket of some seed clumps... let them eat what they want... I planned to get more at Rural King today... that will wait for next appt next Thursday... might get another bag here at TSC or Walmart, to get them through. The yellow "kitten" has been stalking them a little... but he is soooo obvious, and he doesn't like the snow very much, so they are "safe".... can see him coming .... Silkie, the older one, never seemed to care about them much... Have never found any bird feathers... they get fed too good, so it is only for "fun" to stalk them....

Got a second mouse the other day in the kitchen... nothing like how I used to catch them... the cats help some....

Radio said down to 12 tonight..... .... OMG

I'm real tired from not much sleep last night. Ought to sleep real good tonight. Better send this while I have some internet again...